The TAIEX climbed for a second day yesterday, led by Cathay Financial Holding Co (
Improving economic prospects will boost returns on equity holdings and property asset values at Cathay's life insurance unit, said Aaron Wu, who manages a US$41 million equity fund at ABN Amro Asset Management Taiwan Ltd.
"Next year's outlook is still very positive for almost every industry," he said.
The TAIEX rose 6.97, or 0.1 percent, to 6,042.71. Almost three stocks fell for every two that gained. For the week, the index climbed 2.9 percent, its third weekly gain.
The futures contract for October delivery rose 0.3 percent to 6,080. The value of trade was NT$127.9 billion (US$3.8 billion).
Cathay Financial, owner of the country's largest life insurer, jumped NT$3, or 5.7 percent, to NT$56. Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), Taiwan's largest life insurer and a unit of Cathay Financial, had NT$42.1 billion (US$1.2 billion) of short-term equity holdings as of March 31.
Yang Ming Marine Transport (陽明海運), Taiwan's biggest container shipper by market value fell 90 N.T. cents, or 2.6 percent, to NT$34.10. Yang Ming dropped after its relative strength index, which is derived by averaging out daily gains and losses, reached 72.65 yesterday.
A reading above 70 suggests prices are poised to fall.
China Steel Corp (中鋼), Taiwan's largest steelmaker, rose 0.4 percent to NT$27.30. The Taiwan government said yesterday it raised US$815 million from its sale of an 11 percent stake in China Steel. The government sold 52.4 million global depositary receipts, each worth 20 locally traded shares, at US$15.56 apiece. That represented a 3 percent discount to the stock's local close yesterday.
Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控), Taiwan's largest privately owned lender, rose 80 cents, or 2.4 percent, to NT$33.80 on news that Chinatrust aims to double its domestic market share within five years before it attempts to expand outside Taiwan.
Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to